Umeå Economic Studies, Department of Economics, Umeå University
No 464:
Moving or Staying? Job Mobility as a Sorting Process
Barbro Widerstedt ()
Abstract: This thesis constists of three papers dealing with labour
mobility. In paper [I], I study the effects of job change for wage growth.
Job change is assumed to influence wage growth and productivity for both
job movers and job stayers. I find that returns on work experience are
higher for job movers, both before and after job change. This contradicts
the hypothesis that job stayers have higher returns to work experience as
an effect of investing time in aqcuiring job-specific skills. In addition,
I find that the returns on work experience do not improve for job stayers,
when job changers quit. This means that productivity among job stayers is
not affected by selective termination of bad matches. I find no evidence to
support that job mobility increases productivity for job movers, which
indicates that job mobility acts mainly as a sorting device, sorting
workers into jobs they are most suited for.
In paper [II], I study the
effect of job change on wages and income, as well as on wage and income
growth, allowing for multiple job changes. I assume that match quality is
partly due to outcome of the individual's career decisions up until the
time of observation. The individual's career history can signal to the
employer the quality of current and previous matches, which may affect the
wage path. I find that each job change increases wage and income growth
between 1981 and 1991, but that there is no evidence to suggest that job
changers have higher wage and income levels in 1991. This result is
constistent with a scenario where job changers, through mobility, catch up
the higher wages earned by job stayers. I also find some evidence to
suggest that job movers are adversely selected, i.e. that job changers are
drawn from a pool of workers who were predominantly 'bad matches' in 1981.
In paper [III] I study the determinants of long and short distance
migration. I estimate a multinomial logit model, to ascertain whether the
determinants of migration differ between the choices of migrating long or
short distances. I find that increases in pre-migration income decreases
probability of migrating a long distance, while pre-migration income has no
effect on the decision to move a short distance. The higher the education
level, the higher the probability of long distance migration, while
education level has no effect on the probability of short distance
migration. Dependence on unemployment benefits increases the probability of
both short and long distance migration. I find no effect of local fiscal
characteristics or local labour market characteristics on the probability
of either long or short distance migration.
Keywords: Labour Mobility; Migration; Wage Growth; Job Match Quality; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: J24; J61; J63; (follow links to similar papers)
95 pages, May 15, 1998
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